I would like to thank the editorial staff of the Chicago Tribune for including the story about Najaf and Mosul with the coverage of President Bush’s latest Iraq speech (“A tale of 2 scarred cities: Najaf and Mosul,” Dec. 8).

Through this story the Tribune is fulfilling its journalistic ethics of testing the accuracy of all information they receive in order to present their readers with the complete truth. Most news outlets would have only reported what Bush said, that in Najaf the United States worked with local officials to rebuild the police force and repair homes, without taking the time to report on what is really happening.

By choosing to write about how the militiamen in Najaf have not actually been expelled and how the people of Mosul continue to live in fear and do not go out during the night, the Tribune is setting an example that should be followed by all media which claim to be true practitioners of journalism.